


The Lilac

by Experiment413



Category: Mianite - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alva Lives, Flux Flu, Gen, Minor Character Death, Realm of Mianite, Royalty, Sibling Switch AU, Sickness, Some characters only mentioned, Thaumcraft (Minecraft)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-26 12:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15662964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Experiment413/pseuds/Experiment413
Summary: Alva lives.Under her power, the realm of Ruxomar changes forever.[Sibling Switch AU]





	1. The End of a Life (The Beginning of a Story)

**Author's Note:**

> This AU was developed from the help of Chimalus!  
> He also beta'd this first chapter, and may help me elsewhere with it.

The last things Andor uttered were things eight-year-old Alva didn’t expect. She’d been told that last words were typically loving things, or confessions, or that there simply would benone at all if the person was too weak. Today, though, Andor was more awake than before. Freya had died hours prior to the flux flu, and she had gone peacefully, though in pain.

 

Andor was struggling in the same way, pain wracking him from weeks of infection. But he was fighting now, some urge built up in him to ward off sleep, to not let it weigh him down.

 

He was historically the trouble child to their father, and he didn’t even glance at Helgrind. He just reached out to his sister as she approached, cupping her face in his hands as she got closer. It was almost a health hazard, if not for the preventative treatment she’d been given. But he stared her down briefly, and she felt the tears well up again, but the siblings held their gaze.

 

“He’s not gonna grieve properly,” Andor murmured, out of earshot of Helgrind. His voice was rough, like he had strep throat. “He’s gonna put the blame on Grandma. I know it, Alva.”

Their grandmother was ill, they knew it. But the flux couldn’t kill Ianite- it was hers. And with her daughter-in-law and grandson sick now, too, it was worse than ever. The more sorrow, the more sickness. She’d left to try to avoid the pain, but even from here they could tell it’d just gotten worse.

 

And their dad hadn’t liked Ianite at all. Their morals were so different that sometimes you couldn’t even tell they were mother and son. He’d picked fights with her. And with this thing going around, maybe Andor was right, and it wouldn’t end well…

 

But why was he telling her this now, on his deathbed?

 

He blinked, breaking eye contact.

“I need you to know that, Alva. I need you to be safe.”

She didn’t even know she was crying. Why here, why now…

Andor used one hand to brush tears from her face. She sniffled quietly, and he sighed.

“Things won’t be easy. Make sure they end well. You’re the best one for it.”

 

He let go of her, settling back into the bed, sighing a bit and closing his eyes. Alva had to cover her face, now realizing how much she was sobbing. Andor gave a few deep breaths, and then his final exhale, and he was gone. His pain over, the burden of sickness lifted.

 

And so Alva lived. She didn’t get it, she didn’t get it…

She couldn’t work it out in her head. Weeping over her lost older brother, confused at what he meant, but aware of turmoil, too many questions floating in her head…

 

Helgrind sighed- it sounded out of actual sadness. He did no more than quietly approach his daughter, ease her softly into a one-armed hug, and walk her out of the room.


	2. Sky Strangers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I be writing this fast? No. Tomorrow the energy could be gone to write though, so I gotta do it when I can.
> 
> Beta'd by Chimalus.

An explosion in the docks caught the residents of Dagrun off guard, and while some people were fleeing from the site, others were going towards it.

Among those was Princess Alva, nearing her thirteenth birthday, as she slunk over to the edge of the docks. After nearly being shoved into the ocean by a panicking fisherman, she found the small sailboat she called her own and snapped open the sail to guide her in the direction of the blast.

 

Once over there, she found herself adrift above the wooden splinters of her father’s main ship, and she bent down to fish a few out of the water with her bare hands. She sailed quickly to the side of the ship, tied it up to the edge, and slowly scaled the ship’s outer wall.

 

At the top, she looked out to see if there was anything she could get a glimpse of. She found the direct middle of the boat gone, busted open into a huge hole, and as she swung herself onto the deck and peered in, found while it had gone all the way through to the water in some places, that four people lay unconscious at the bottom. No blood, no disfigurement…

She thought of the wizards who’d arrived days before, hailing from another world, and she looked up. A small circle of black just above the ship stitched itself shut as she watched.

 

Several guards had sailed over to the ship as well, and as one landed onto the dock, they looked at Alva.

“Princess, what are you doing here?”

She ignored the question. “There are people down there. We need to get them to safety and see if they’ve been injured. This wasn’t caused by an explosive.”

Before anything else could be said, Alva swung herself off the edge of the ship, landing in her boat and slightly skinning the palms of her hands. She untied her sailboat from the larger ship, and swerved off back to the docks.

 

\--

 

Alva had hauled Declan over to investigate the newcomers. It was the perfect time, now that they were chattering loudly amongst themselves. He did decide to hang back for the time being, concerned with the noise they were making. He could hardly believe they’d survived such a fall. Alva let them out of the too-small prison cells, and they instantly were bewildered at their new surroundings.

 

“You’re from another world, aren’t you?” Alva asked one of the four. She wore an orange hoodie, from which two lifelike fox ears peaked up from two holes at the top. The woman just smirked at Alva, before going off to join the other three.

 

They startled Declan, and as Alva raced to catch up, it seemed that they knew him. But how? They’d never seen these people before. He stopped at the gates, halting the four. Alva quickly caught up to him, making sure he was fine.

One of the four clarified something. He appeared like a zombie, but his mannerisms were human. “Yeah, Priest, we know you, man.”

Another, with red glasses, piped up. “Yeah, we met you before.”

“Where?” Declan asked. He was defensive, and Alva couldn’t blame him- she was halfway to drawing her battleaxe. 

“Wait, he doesn’t remember us?” the fox-eared one asked.

Alva stopped them. “Declan’s lived here his whole life, and we’ve never met you. What are you going on about?”

 

Before her question could be answered, one pointed out a spider. Declan swiftly drew his sword, killing the thing, oddly to the four’s dismay.

He looked at Alva. Something didn’t exactly settle right in her stomach, and she could tell what it was.

 

Declan ushered the four off to his chapel, hoping to speak to them. Alva followed. They were thinking of the prophecy. It couldn’t possibly be true, right? It was far-fetched, and while gods and magic were surely in play, the legend of the sky people was just something out of a storybook. Alva leaned against one of the walls to listen as the four played about, taking in their surroundings. She tensed up slightly as they toyed with the smaller altar, but Dec didn’t seem to mind.

 

Declan didn’t believe in this prophecy anymore than the average person did, but he went into describing it anyways. 

 

“Are you aware of a person called… Mianite?” he asked when he was finished.

Declan was a nightmare in this sense. He didn’t exactly believe the gods were real, as much as Alva could vouch for it. In all fairness, though, many people who had never met them personally had a bit of a hard time stomaching their existence. At least Dec wasn’t too conflicted about it.

 

The four gave a chorus of “yeah”s. Alva stopped, listened closer.

“He can’t be real, really?” Declan asked. He and Alva had different descriptions of something from a storybook. To him, it was almost anything god-related, but he kept believing in it either way.

“We’ve kind of seen him before,” said the one with glasses.

“Kicks my ass all the time!” the zombified one added. His accomplices laughed.

Alva stood up straight, quirking an eyebrow. These guys couldn’t have actually met him, right? They just looked like normal folk, if she could call a zombie-dude normal, at least.

 

She couldn’t think of a question to ask. How would she word something like that? Then again, it’d only been a matter of days since the four’s arrival, and there was explaining to do from each party. Before she could think of anything, Declan was ushering them off again for a tour.

 

“Welcome to Dagrun,” she called after them.

She’d have to talk to them later, and find out what they were like, and what their story was.

 


	3. Hear the Bells

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by Chimalus

Alva huffed, sinking the last of her Tenebrae vis into her research. She took the paper, not even checking if it was perfect, and set it aside. She’d have to go run around to find another node, maybe go all the way to Katsir to find a Silverwood Tree she hadn’t tapped yet. Sure, there were plenty untouched, but there were other thaumaturgs who could use the vis more than she could.

 

She pushed her goggles up to her forehead, having to take in her surroundings again.  She slipped them off, placed them in her bag, and left her room.

 

She’d have to check if the Deviser had gotten back to her yet. Gaines was one of the few people Alva had been fully open to, their hearts so alike that Gaines may as well just have been an older version of Alva. He occasionally resented his work, used too often by Helgrind to create the various mechanisms in the Inertia and even some in Castle Dagrun itself. He saw the corruption in Helgrind’s rule, and if he or Alva said a thing about it, they’d lose their heads. But with Gaines, Alva felt like she wasn’t alone. That thought soothed her.

There was no mail for her when she checked, however. She’d have to wait.

 

Dagrun was so oddly quiet without Helgrind around, and Alva was enjoying the temporary peace that had settled. That was until she heard yelling from across the river. Farmer Steve was bickering with one of the Sky People about stolen goods or something. She appreciated Steve, but she wasn’t going to be there for a petty theft trial. The Herald would have to take it.

 

She went the opposite direction of the courthouse, walking along the edge of the docks. As dusk fell, the lighthouse lit up, sending its beams across the sky. Alva headed that way, absentmindedly whistling. She went up to the small room just before the stairs that led to the light, a place she spent too little time with Andor when they’d visited Dagrun.

She would’ve taken a moment to reminisce, had she not heard the hollering from outside.

 

Alva bolted down the stairs, nearly crashing through the door. Out in the open air, she stopped the Herald in his tracks. She looked to her right, seeing the fox lady scurrying away. “HEY!” she yelled after her. Supposedly recognizing her voice, the lady slid to a stop.

 

Following behind the Herald was the Sky Person who wore some cap, and as they all came to a halt, the two other Sky People poked their heads out from around the corner of a building.

 

“We’re not gonna do things like this,” Alva said. She kicked the foot of the Herald lightly- through the armor, he felt nothing. “We’re gonna have to get along. We’re not gonna run around swinging swords, not in  _ my  _ town.”

She eyed the others. The Herald spat out the beginning of a rebuttal, but she shut him up by speaking again.

“Herald, this isn’t how you handle things. You four, you’re gonna have to learn how this place runs.” Even if she didn’t like the way it ran.

 

She stormed back into town without another word. 

 

She was bold for what she had said, not caring whether or not her father or the Herald said or did anything. She stood by her beliefs, no matter how problematic they were in the eyes of the kingdom. The laws were strict, punishments were worse, it wasn’t too difficult to tell. Her mind was filled with conflict though. She had a respect for her dad, he was a good man. He treated her like the family jewel, and for the most part, they got along. Disagreements had always been common, but that was common in every family. She was some parts mad, some parts still caring. She confused herself with the back-and-forth. Everything could equally go well or horribly.

She just wanted what the best was for everyone, even if they did something horrible.

 

Her attention shifted away from her own thoughts as she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to check if it was the Herald choosing to go on another tirade. Instead, she found that Sky Person with the fox ears.

“Thanks for the help back there. I had it covered, though,” the woman said, catching up to Alva.

“Uh, it’s no big deal,” Alva responded. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“Sonja,” she replied, holding out a hand. “You’re Princess Alva, right?”

“That’s me.” Alva shook her hand.

 

Sonja, huh. She’d have to take note of that.


End file.
